Question 4 Revision - Persil Adverts

Cross Media Topics – Question 4

Key reading: what was significant about the 1950s?

Post war era
Boom in consumer goods / renewed prosperity in the UK – Western economies expanded
Men returned from the War, women subsequently out of work returning to their roles as domestic housewives. Return to traditional gender roles.
Women lost their independence and became ‘idealised’ (the Doris Day influence) in advertising from a male perspective (represented as attractive, feminine, domestic, subordinate and servile to men, carers, etc).
Influx of print and TV adverts for domestic and food products featuring women in the of role housewife (adverts would show women demonstrating use of such products, often accompanied by a pleased husband who benefits from the new product). These roles characteristically portrayed the middle class house wife (use of RP accents to suggest their class).

1950s Messages and Values
· Women are innately caring and better suited to domestic roles.
· Men are the stronger sex and should therefore fulfil the traditional role of the ‘breadwinner’. They should work to support their families but return home to a clean, safe and homely environment.
· Children should be ‘seen and not heard’.
· The mother takes a lead in rearing the children, the father plays the disciplinarian.
· Men are ‘natural leaders’ and should be the dominant partner in the relationship.

WRITTEN TASK 1 – Have these messages and values changed in the 21st century? Explain with examples to current trends in advertising. What do we see in current TV adverts for domestic products such as soap powder / cleaning products?

CHALLENGE: What is meant by ‘post feminist society’?
What messages and values are associated with post feminism? E.g. men and women are equal.





Development
Analyse the ‘1950s Persil’ print advert using the prompts below. You must not lose this as you will write about this advert in Question 4 – stick it into your book.

1) Which print advertising techniques are evident?
2) Deconstruct the key images (the women and product). Discuss the connotations and framing.
3) Analyse the messages and values conveyed by these images (consider 1950s messages as per above).
4) Analyse the copy. What messages and values are suggested by the copy?
5) Analyse the typography (style of font).
6) Analyse the colour connotations.
7) Who is the target audience for this advert?
8) How have the producers of this advert made it appealing to its audience?


Plenary / Homework

1) Revise the key features of the 1950s and present these in mind map form.
2) Summarise the messages and values conveyed in the 1950s Persil advert. State how these messages are communicated to the target audience.


Obj: 1) analyse the TV Persil advert
2) interpret the messages and values conveyed in the advert

QUESTION 4
How have messages and values conveyed in advertisements changed? In your answer, consider at least one past advertisement and a more recent one from a different medium.
*Analyse the presentation of people and / or products
*Compare what is similar and what has changed
*Compare the messages and values in these presentations

1990s Persil TV Advert - go to:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eQvC_PMQjfo


Textual Analysis
Complete a detailed analysis and interpretation of the 1990's Persil TV Advert. Divide your page into the following headings:

*Narrative - what happens in the advert?
*Context - how do we understand it is set in the late 1990s?
*Characters - how are they presented?
*Camerawork and Editing
*Sound / Dialogue
*Mise en Scene / Setting
*Messages and Values


Development
What are the similarities between the TV advert and the 1950s print Persil advertisement?
What are the differences?
How have the messages and values changed? How far have some of them remained the same?